Solar Sunflower harnesses power of 5,000 suns

The latest in solar power comes to us from Swiss inventors working for Airlight Energy , Dsolar (a subsidiary of Airlight), and IBM Research in Zurich, reports Ars Technica . It's called the Solar Sunflower, and like its namesake, it tracks the sun and cools itself by pumping water through its veins like a plant. Aside from its aesthetically-pleasing design, the Solar Sunflower also makes use of some innovative technology. It uses something called HCPVT (Highly Efficient Concentrated PhotoVoltaic/Thermal) to generate electricity and hot water from solar power. Basically, this method entails using reflectors to concentrate the sun, as well as highly efficient photovoltaic cells (known as gallium-arsenide photovoltaic cells) to convert that concentrated solar energy into electricity. Though concentrated solar thermal power and PVs are nothing new to the solar power industry,...